2023: Group decries under-representation of climate change issues

An environment protection advocacy organisation under the auspices of “Activists for Climate Justice Coalition” has called on Nigerians to vote for candidate who understands and can address climate change issues currently facing the country.

The organisation made the call at a press conference to launch its #Vote4Climate Campaign on Thursday.

Recall that federal government through the ministry of Humanitarian Affairs,Disaster Management and Social Development, announced that more than 600 persons had died and over two million people displaced as a result of flooding this year.

Briefing journalists in Abuja, spokesperson of the organisation, David Michael Terungwa, expressed worry that despite this disaster, political aspirants for the 2023 general elections are still not projecting climate change issues in their campaigns. He stressed that climate action is critical to economic growth and development of any nation.

Terungwa however urged Nigerians to collect their PVCs and vote candidates who seek to ensure that the environment is safe, secured and sustainable.

He said “We are calling on citizens especially those impacted with climate change to ensure that they collect their PVCs and look beyond empty campaign promises and other forms of inducement to vote for candidates that understand climate change issues and have a climate action plan; it must be a workable plan and not a textbook plan and we must interrogate the plan.

“Who are those impacted by climate change? We are all affected by climate change. Our country Nigeria is very vulnerable to climate change. Fresh in our minds is the recent floods which caused the death of over 600 Nigerians, displaced over 2 million people, washing away hundreds of farms and farm lands and other critical infrastructure like roads, houses etc. With huge cost on our economy.

“No one is immune to climate change impact, the poor and the rich. The country home of former president Goodluck Jonathan was also flooded. Although, the poor are most vulnerable because of their lack of adaptive capacity. Up in the northern part of the country is desert encroachment and land degradation, in the center is soil erosion and land degradation, in the south is sea level rise, coastal erosion and annual floods. All of these affect our health, food and nutrition, water availability, biodiversity loss, security and ultimately our economy.

“The sad reality is that the issues will continue in frequency and magnitude and if we are not able to reverse the present trend and build climate resilience, we will be doomed.

“Climate action is critical to democracy and development but it is under-represented in the #Nigeria#Elections2023 campaigns so far. If you check the manifestos of all the political parties, they do not have any mention of the issues or the solutions. We are worried!”, he added.

The organisation also pointed out that it is embarking on campaign tagged ‘Vote4Climate’ and will involve relevant stakeholders including traditional leaders to ensure that only candidates who are climate sensitive and ready to take action are voted into power come 2023.

“Climate change must be central priority in everything we do. Climate change must be central priority for all governments, all communities, all cities, the civil societies everywhere and that is why it is so important to strongly advocate to bring back climate change to center and make it a priority for every political event”, Terungwa noted.